In modular furniture construction, such as the type of furniture used in laboratories and offices, cabinet structures (drawer units, door-equipped units, and shelf units) are often suspended from the worktops or their supporting rails. Where such units are screwed or bolted to the supporting structure, attachment is awkward and sometimes quite difficult because the connecting elements are not always readily accessible and the cabinet units are often heavy and difficult to support while the connecting points are being located and the screws or other connectors are being inserted and tightened. Also, the provision of fixed connecting points prevents or at least greatly limits the extent of adjustment in the position of a cabinet unit after the connectors have been inserted and before they are fully tightened.
Ideally, means should be provided for suspending a cabinet structure so that it may be moved laterally along the width of the worktop and, when the desired position is selected, the mounting means may then be easily tightened to draw the cabinet against the undersurface of the worktop in such a way that all gaps or seams between the parts are tightly closed and the facing surfaces of the parts are disposed in flush relation. While various types of mounting systems have been proposed to permit lateral adjustment of cabinet units, and while clamps of different construction have been disclosed in the prior art, the systems used in the past have fallen short of meeting all of these objectives either because of complexity, inconvenience of operation, or inability to achieve both adjustability and security of attachment. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,266,762, 3,185,418, 3,333,799, and 3,445,081 for various types of suspension clamps disclosed in the prior art.
An important aspect of this invention lies in providing a clamp which is simple in construction and operation and which allows a user to shift a loosely suspended cabinet into the desired location beneath the supporting rail of a worktop and then to tighten the clamp with a hex wrench or other suitable tool, causing the clamp to pivot and draw the cabinet unit upwardly into tight engagement with the rail structure. Two or more such clamps may be used depending on the width of the suspended cabinet unit. Since the screws for such clamps extend generally horizontally when the clamps are in use, and since such screws are spaced below the undersurface of the worktop adjacent the cabinet opening(s), such screws are readily accessible. Detachment of the cabinet structure is easily accomplished simply by reversing the procedure.
Briefly, the clamp is J-shaped (in elevation) with an upstanding stem portion, an upper arm or head portion, and a lower arm or foot portion. The upper arm portion is disposed above the lower arm portion and is provided with an integral rib that projects towards the lower arm portion, preferably towards a point intermediate the length of the lower arm portion. The upper arm portion also has a threaded bore that extends along a line generally parallel with the lower arm portion and spaced well above the lower end of the rib. The lower arm portion is provided with an upwardly-turned free end which terminates at an elevation substantially lower than the tip of the rib when the axis of the threaded bore is horizontally oriented.
When the clamp is used in suspending a cabinet module, the clamp's upper arm portion is hooked over the upstanding flange of a support rail or beam and the lower arm portion is fitted beneath a top frame member of the cabinet. The screw is rotated, preferably with a hex wrench, into engagement with the inside surface of the rail's front wall portion, causing the clamp to pivot about its line of contact with the upstanding flange and urging the top member of the cabinet module upwardly towards the underside of the rail or beam. With the screw in a partially tightened condition, a user may readily shift the module along the rail into any desired position beneath the worktop. When the module is located in its desired position, tightening of the screw is continued to complete the pivotal movement of the clamp and force the top surface of the module into tight engagement with the underside of the supporting rail or beam.
The clamp is of substantial width; in a preferred embodiment, its width approximates the length of the clamp's lower arm portion. If desired, the clamp may be of substantially greater width and, in that event, may be provided with a plurality of tightening screws. However, it is believed preferable, for ease of operation and effectiveness of result, to provide each clamp with only a single screw (located at a midpoint along the width of the clamp) and with a width that approximates the length of the lower arm portion, and then, where necessary, utilize two or more such clamps in suspending a cabinet module from a support rail.